News Bulletin of 31 December 2025, 1pm

Theatre on the Square Celebrates a Stellar 2025
Sandton’s Theatre on the Square, at Nelson Mandela Square, has marked 2025 as one of its most exciting and successful years.Under production manager Daphne Kuhn, the theatre delivered a year of variety and community engagement, operating independently without sponsorship for over six years.Highlights of the year included the theatre’s own staging of *Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Musical*, which became one of 2025’s standout successes.
Sandton and Gauteng
De Bruin Takes on Bulls Challenge
Neil de Bruin has taken on the role of attack coach at the Bulls, working alongside head coach Johan Ackermann to add intensity and clarity.He was appointed after the departure of senior assistants Andries Bekker and Chris Rossouw. SA Rugby has also provided support, assigning several Springbok assistant coaches to the setup.The Bulls are struggling for form, having lost five games in a row and winning just three of nine matches this season. They sit 10th on the URC table and fifth in their Champions Cup pool.
South Africa
Qantas Launches Direct Joburg-Australia Flights
Joburgers can now fly directly to major Australian cities like Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, and Adelaide with global carrier, Qantas.This as the carrier has launched a direct Johannesburg-to-Perth flight, cutting the travel time to 9-hours and 55 minutes.The route was launched on Sunday and now operates 3-times a week, on Tuesdays, Fridays, and Sundays. Australia's Trade and Tourism Minister Don Farell says this flight provides an opportunity to boost trade between the 2 counties:

Sandton and Gauteng
Financial Indicators
Your financial indicators for this hour:

The Rand is trading at 16.58 to the US Dollar, 0.00 to the British Pound, and 0.00 to the Euro.

Gold is trading at 4,361.63 dollars a fine ounce, Brent Crude Oil is at Error per barrel, and a Bitcoin will set you back 88,627.00.
New Mystery Found Beneath Bermuda
Scientists have found a massive, 20 km rock layer under the ocean floor near Bermuda. According to reports nothing like it has been seen anywhere else in the world. Usually, the oceanic crust sits on top of the mantle, but Bermuda has an extra layer tucked in between. Sizemologist William Frazer at Carnagee Science says this could explain why Bermuda sits on an “oceanic swell,” a raised part of the ocean floor. Frazer thinks the layer might be leftover mantle rock from an eruption 31 million years ago, frozen in place like a raft, raising the ocean floor about 500 meters.
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